Published 5:30 am, Friday, September 14, 2007

TSU routinely paid for $100 bottles of wine for Slade and drinks for her friends and staff, despite a prohibition at that time on state monies being spent on alcohol, Assistant District Attorney Donna Goode said.

Slade's former executive assistant, Erica Vallier, said that the rules for purchasing have since changed, but at the time, Slade told her not to worry about the prohibition. She said her boss drank bottles of Far Niente with her friends and staff at expensive bars, such as the Four Seasons bar and the Skybar.

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Slade led the historically black university from 1999 to 2005, after being pressed into service from her post as the dean of the business school.

Slade is on trial on charges of misapplication of fiduciary property of more than $200,000, accused of spending school money on personal expenses. If convicted, she faces a punishment ranging from probation to life in prison.

While attorneys fought to get their version of the facts in front of the jury during Vallier's testimony, they also constantly approached District Judge Brock Thomas for permission to talk about sensitive issues not yet presented to jurors.

The defense wanted to talk about the investigators' tactics, and prosecutors wanted to talk about Slade's inauguration expenses and where the money came from.

Out of the presence of the jury, Goode asked the judge for permission to tell jurors about her accusation of Slade siphoning money from the TSU Foundation.

Goode told Thomas that Slade and her staff reclassified accounts to ''suck money out of the school's foundation."

The foundation, started by Slade, was created to raise money for scholarships and endow chairs for professors.

"These started out as business expenses, and things got so out of whack that they had to look to the foundation for these unreasonable expenditures," Goode said.

Slade's defense attorney battled back from Vallier's testimony that seemed to keep him on the ropes.

Mike DeGeurin spent Wednesday morning stumbling through cross-examination of Vallier on details related to her years traveling, dining and drinking with Slade.

He also tried to draw a distinction between state funds given to TSU and local funds, or the money raised by tuition and concessions.

Taking a different tack, he spent the afternoon grilling Vallier about her part in the spending scandal that rocked the cash-strapped school.

"Have you been threatened with prosecution?" DeGeurin asked. After referring to her grand jury testimony, she said she was told she could be indicted.

Vallier said she did not want to be charged with a crime.

Slade is accused of spending more than $500,000 of the school's money on personal expenses, such as home renovations, drapes and bedding. DeGeurin has said Slade's purchases were reasonable and necessary to court donors and improve the university's image.

Vallier also testified that Slade spent university money during her tenure as president on at least two meals a day for herself and her staff at expensive restaurants, nights of drinking out and tickets for professional sports games.

She also said they traveled to Rome, Costa Rica and Maine.

Seizing on openings in testimony, both sides repeatedly argued about exhibits, in open court and outside the presence of the jury.

The trial in the 338th state District Court is scheduled to last several more weeks.